Shot from above – Max in the ‘beer garden’, taken out kitchen window. Timber pile to the right used to be in the kitchen floor. Back in the 1800’s, the kitchen room was probably a verandah looking out over the original owner’s horse & cart field (before factories & warehouses were built). The floor had a slope for drainage. Been weird til now, walking downhill from the door to the kitchen sink. We’ve removed the sloping timber joists (piled next to Max below) & the floor’s level now.

Max in the ‘beer garden’ 29 Aug 2014.

Building crew back again, 7am tomorrow.

Fires out.

Installed a sink & plumbed the waste pipe today, in one of the rooms behind the venue – a kitchenette / meals area next to a full room which might turn into someone’s studio or office space. My first crack at plumbing, having watched & worked along-side Stu (the real deal) since we’ve been here. Hopefully no nasty leaks spring up. Right now this room contains the only working kitchen in the building. The proper kitchen still being built & out of action for another 2 weeks.

Marty’s plumbing handy-work; new sink in kitchette 26 Aug 2014.

Fires out.

Shot from the vault: November 2010, Cherry Bar, midway through nearly 2 years touring. Didn’t get home (back in our house) til October the following year. Mat Ward took this pic. The Cherry show was the last date on a 3 week Aussie east coast tour, which kicked off after a year overseas. I remember thinking I was slowly losing my mind, not helped by being back in America for another long tour about a month after this show. We had great fun at Cherry all the same. Plenty of guests on stage including Stalk & Campbell on bagpipes.

The On Fires at Cherry Bar Melbourne 2010 – Pic by Mat Ward.

Bookwork kept me from working on the venue today. Back into it tomorrow.

Fires out.

Mentioned in yesterday’s post – had a big one Friday night. Couple of mates over for a few beers turned into a decent jam session. At some point, thought I’d wonder across the street to the new barbecue joint – Blue Bonnet. Hadn’t been in yet – said hello to the head chef & told him about the new venue etc. Probably shouldn’t have been so under the weather for first introduction. Asked if the guys could make a platter with a few different things on it. Due to amazing generosity, returned with a massive platter of barbecued meats, sausages, potatoes etc.

Blue Bonnet Barbecue, 187 Johnston Street Collingwood – pic from their website.

The food was insanely good. Mates TC and particularly Craigie went on feast frenzy – the latter walking around stuffing his face, cave-man style with a lump of steak half the size of his head, saying “this is the best barbecue I’ve ever had”. Can’t recommend the place highly enough – Blue Bonnet Barbecue. Food is exquisite & the restaurant is pumping already (been going maybe less than a month). Really nice atmosphere in there too (low lighting). Jam sesh & beers continued til the wee hours, making for a hard start 7am Saturday working on the kitchen.

Well worth the pain.
Fires out.

Massive night last night (I’ll tell you about it next post). Very slow start this morning. Had to get into it. 7am the guys were here to plaster the kitchen. Raced to stay a ahead of them & get the insulation in before the sheets went down. Hardest bit was hanging the ceiling plaster, took 3 of us to hold long sheets in place while the screws went in. All done by 2pm. Crashed.

Plastering kitchen walls at the new venue – 23 Aug 2014.

Fires out.

Called in this morning during Bigsy’s show (On The Blower) & subscribed to Triple R for another year. What a station. If you haven’t as yet, call in & pledge your subscription. $75 for an individual or band. A very small price to pay for a year of mind blowing, eye-opening, inspiring radio. I’ve heard it said many-a-time: Melbourne wouldn’t be Australia’s music and/or cultural capital without Triple R. As an avid listener, I have to agree. And hey, when everybody snubs us, it’s stations like Triple R who give our band airplay (and thousands of other artists).

Dig deep if you can & give em a call – 03 9388 1027. Radiothon ends this Sunday at midnight. You can still subscribe for a month after that – but you’ll miss going into the running for some ripping daily prizes. Viva La Triple R.

Fires out.

Stu on the roof yesterday (on the blower between fixing leaks). Pic looking north over Collingwood  & Clifton Hill from the front of the building, new venue directly below.

Stu the plumber on the roof of the new venue building – 20 Aug 2014.

Stu’s done a bunch of plumbing work on the building – and there’s a stack more to do. He is a kinda dare-devil when it comes to working on stuff at precarious heights. There are plenty of stomache-churing times I’ve seen him working by the edge of the roof, 8 metres up, like a man on a tightrope. Not for the squeamish.

Fires out.

Chasing down a series of roof leaks this arvo. Me and Stu (the plumber) got up there to take a look. Took this shot sitting on the ridge, near the front of the building looking south over Collingwood.

Rooftops of Collingwood, looking south from Johnston St, just west of Hoddle St – 20 Aug 2014.

Pretty hairy getting up there. One long ladder up from the beer-garden 8 metres to the gutter & over onto the roof. Found the leaks eventually. Dare-devil Stu made the repairs. Next rain, we’ll see how they went. Far as we can tell, for decades much of the rain leaking in from the top floor roof made it’s way down the walls and into the venue area below. This might be the first time it’s been stopped in a very long time. Fingers crossed.

Fires out.

Solid weekend working upstairs on what will be the kitchen. That’s Larry on Friday, lifting remaining floor boards & getting levels right. Saturday, my job – laying insulation in the floor. Sunday, floor down. We re-used the original boards & just made it, down to the last one (otherwise, my next job would have been the unlikely task of finding matching boards somewhere).

Fires out.

Me working on a room at the rear of the Venue yesterday (complete with plumber’s crack). Final coat on the floor, which pretty much finishes the room. The shot to the right – how it was late last year. Doesn’t tell the whole story. Roof leaking, plaster falling off, floor boards missing, smell of rats. Unrecognisable now. Getting there bit by bit…

After and before – room at Venue rear – 13 Aug 2014.

Fires out.